The title of this collection also reveals that it contains a selection of sayings attributed to Imam Ali. Ali is believed to have possessed poetic talent and is attributed to a number of poems of pious content. The sayings are compiled alphabetically, according to their first letters, and the name of each subsequent letter can be seen in the margins. The cardboard covers of the binding are covered on the outside with dark brown leather; a blind embossing remains: a thin "chain" frame and corner decorations – triangles from the "braid" ornament; the spines are currently pasted over with fragments of leather, and on the spine of the flap, a leather lacework grid remains over a gold background. The nature of the decoration suggests that these leather covers previously belonged to the inside of the covers. The insides are currently covered with gray restoration paper.
According to information, this collection was copied by the calligrapher Abdullah al-Hiravi in Samarkand in the month of Safar 862 AH, in December 1457-January 1458 AD. In 1869, it was donated to the Russian National Library by D.O. Petrov.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Arts of the book in the 15th–17th-century Mawarannahr" (Volume XVII) in the series "The Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan".
The main sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
